


The Little Thief Who Cried

by Magnetic_Stars



Category: Labyrinth (1986)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-10
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-16 12:48:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29332554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Magnetic_Stars/pseuds/Magnetic_Stars
Summary: Sarah Williams may have won the Labyrinth fair and square, but little did she know she was still playing a dangerous game far from over. After all, people ought to think twice before deciding to rob His Majesty the King of his most valued possession.
Relationships: Jareth/Sarah Williams
Comments: 4
Kudos: 18





	The Little Thief Who Cried

Sarah’s eyes snapped open.

They flickered around anxiously.

Her heartbeat still hammered against her chest and pounded against her eardrums. She could still feel the hard, stony surface beneath her sore feet. She could even hear the echo of a soft yet menacing voice of a man who wasn’t really a man at all, but a dark creature she had yet to classify. His image was so fresh in her mind, his presence there as threatening as his physical form. She shuddered, struggling to forget the glaring eyes which either compelled her to cower away or tread closer into deeper waters. They were indisputably beautiful, yet dangerously so. Littered with golden specks like they were their own galaxies, harboring truths and secrets the world could never fathom. Picturing them now made her skin crawl as she idly searched for the right word to describe such profound, calculating eyes.

 _Venomous,_ Sarah thought to herself, silently content with her choice.

Now, lying in bed in the comfort of her room, everything was dark and quiet. Despite her whirling thoughts in a severely disoriented reality, Sarah Williams was sure of one thing without a crumb of doubt:

_She’d escaped the Labyrinth._

_And it was **not** a dream._

Her feet ached from all her frantic running around, her arms were peppered with swollen bruises, and the bracelet gifted to her by a certain nervous troll rattled around her wrist as she ran a hand over her face.

_She’d escaped, and it was **not** a dream._

Then, just as her eyelids grew heavy, just as she began to succumb to an overdue sleep, a sudden thought violently slapped her across the face, jerking her awake.

_Toby!_

As though her body wasn’t completely shattered and on the verge of collapse, Sarah leapt from her bed and dashed towards Toby’s nursery. With her heart wedged in her throat, she struggled to breathe, frightened and desperate. The nursery was basked in pale moonlight and the sound of soft snoring filled its quiet space. Tucked in peacefully, Toby slept with a tiny hand pillowing his rosy cheek. He’d hardly stirred at all as Sarah stumbled in and heaved a long sigh of relief.

_It was **not** a dream, but it was over now._

“I’m sorry, Toby,” she said quietly, unable to shake off that persistent pang of guilt that resumed to eat at her mercilessly.

Running her fingers through his fine hair, hot tears welled up in her eyes. He was just a baby, pure and innocent to this world without a single mean bone in his body… and she had wished him away, just like that. Banished him to the Goblin King himself, all because she didn’t know how to sooth her crying baby brother. She’d been so foolish, so childish.

“I’ve learnt my lesson,” she whispered to him, meaning it with every fiber of her being. “I love you, and I’ll always protect you. Whether it’s goblins, ghouls, or mean little fairies with sharp teeth, I’ll always be there. I promise.” She set a gentle kiss against his cheek; the child remained heavily sedated with sleep.

After adjusting the soft blanket around his shoulders, a sudden tiredness overtook her then. She muffled a determined yawn and staggered to her room with no other desire than to dive into her bed and surrender to a dreamless sleep for once. She had her whole life ahead of her to be traumatized by the impossible adventure she embarked upon, but right now, trauma could wait.

As the last coherent thoughts rippled through her mind, Sarah realized there was something she should never allow herself to forget, something she mustn’t ever demean. She didn’t just escape the Labyrinth, she _won_ it, an accomplishment she knew was impractical to achieve. Traumatizing it might have been, but victory tasted so sweet. And, true to her words, no power over her could ever convince her otherwise. As she climbed into bed and hugged her pillow tight, a determined smile formed around her chapped mouth.

 _I am the heroine to my own tale, and thus ends my vexing brawl with his Majesty, the King…_ her thought trailed off as she finally rewarded herself with a deep, sedating sleep.

What Sarah didn’t know as she sleepily reveled in her inadvertent victory was that things weren’t as over as she’d hoped they were. Not entirely. Because underneath Toby’s warm covers, clutched in his tight, little fist was an ominous crystal ball. With a small whine, the young boy flipped over in his sleep, unknowingly tossing his stolen souvenir between the bars of his crib. Its twinkling form reflected the moon’s silver light as it soundlessly rolled underneath a wooden cabinet against a far wall. There, the crystal would stay for a long, long time, forgotten by the smuggling babe and hidden from his wiser, older sister.

~ ~ ~

Somewhere between this world or the next, across burning stars and timeless zones, the Goblin King perched himself in the highest crooked tower of his castle. With a crystal twirling between gloved fingers, he glanced at the far horizon where multiple red suns rose to bask his Labyrinth in a bleeding light. His kingdom was in disarray, his Goblins scattered below busily in an attempt to restore the damages caused by a certain heroine and her meddling friends. The Goblin King didn’t mind his subjects any attention. He had neither the patience nor the effort to deal with them, not when his mind was vigorously replaying the rapid turn of unfortunate events that left his Kingdom a tad messier than he was comfortable with.

_Whiny, bratty, Sarah Williams…_

Oh, how he had misjudged her. The young human girl with no more power than the strong words in her mouth, her greatest weapon, her only power over him… and he had allowed it. Somewhere along the course of their game, The Goblin King had actually hoped to be impressed, to be challenged, particularly by the spoiled brat with the fierce fire in her eyes. She faced him like she wasn’t afraid, stared him in the eyes like she didn’t care to fall into those dark abysses. She bested him at his own game, and he couldn’t remember the last time he’d been bested by _anyone_. She impressed him then, and so he sent her back home. Idly, he wondered if she knew how lucky she was, if she was the kind of girl to take such a winning for granted. After all, she had a terrible talent for taking the things that came her way for granted, whether they suited her or not.

The Goblin King couldn’t resist giving in to a persistent eye-roll. He might have found her impressive, but ‘irritating’ will always remain at the top of his list of ways to describe Sarah Williams, the plucky girl who valiantly denied him and won his Labyrinth, fair and square.

With a sniff, he looked away from the wreckage below and focused solely on the cloudy crystal he held with a carefulness no one could ever suspect him of. Turning it from left to right, he surmised that something was not right. The crystal didn’t behave the way a crystal should, it lagged, took its time to acknowledge His Majesty’s command. There was a disturbance beyond the obvious destruction of his Labyrinth. He felt it in the air, in the stubborn breeze that fanned his hair back, nagging him over, and over, and over again that something was, by far, very wrong indeed.

The Goblin King didn’t panic, he never did. Instead, he’d get annoyed, so… painstakingly… annoyed and bitter. During his dire times of doubt, consulting his magic-infused crystals was the typical action to take, however the crystal between his fingers right then was reluctant to cooperate as he twirled it around some more for good measure. This only annoyed the Goblin King further. An irritated sneer pulled at the corner of his mouth, though his eyes stayed focused. With a hard frown, he blew a long, steady breath at the crystal and the fogginess that swirled inside began to evaporate into a set of faded images. They were distorted, but this did not deter His Majesty. With great concentration, he could suss out what the crystal wanted to reveal to him despite its weak clarity.

_Shadows. Then moonlight. Then the obstructed view of a nursery floor in a world that was not his._

The Goblin King cracked a wry grin that didn’t meet his cold eyes. He didn’t need to see more. He recognized this setting immediately and, all at once, he understood the cause behind the intolerable disturbance that had encased him. A cruel giddiness filled his chest with a spark of both hilarity and thrill, a dangerous combination when it came to His Majesty.

“Well, well,” he drawled to no one but himself, his voice drained but undeniably amused. “It appears we have a little thief on our hands. Beware, my clever friends, for I am about to have myself some great _fun_.”

**Author's Note:**

> I began writing this story months ago and debated (for the longest time) whether or not to start posting it here. Sarah and Jareth's relationship is just too wild and fun to write for me NOT to share it, I couldn't resist! Thanks for reading this "pilot" chapter and please let me know what you think!


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